Sin...Seriously?

How seriously should we take sin? Sin in our lives? Sin in the Church? What did Jesus say about sin in our lives? If we have an offending body part, what should we do with it?
Matthew 5:
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Many people, especially today, say this is completely figurative. Many people, especially today, are too accepting of sin. I'm not promoting self-mutilation or dismemberment. I'm am proposing that you stop sinning by any means necessary. Jesus commanded that you get rid of the sinning member. To cast out/off that which leads to sin. To separate from it.
There was a man in the Corinthian church that refused to stop sinning. What was Paul's advice to the leaders of this church?
1 Corinthians 5:
1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.
2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.
Why would he take such a drastic measure? In verse 7, Paul said that this one man in the church was contaminating the whole body. Paul was willing to send this man to his grave early (destroy the flesh) so that he might retain his salvation, and so the church could clean itself up. One more passage.
Deuteronomy 21:
18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
God tells Moses that this is how to deal with an unruly child. Why so drastic? To keep sin out of the camp. Just as a little bit of leaven effects the whole lump of dough, so sin effects the whole family, church...etc. When we look the other way with sin in our own lives or in our church, for one we are not dealing with it the way Jesus Christ commanded. And two, we are allowing sin to spread and fester within the body, when really the infection needs cut out and cast aside. But asking someone to leave the church if they continue in their sin just doesn't sound Christian, does it? Well, if you don't like that idea, try Paul's. Turn him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. We need to flush sin from our churches, and we need to start in our own lives...by any means necessary.

Quote

A quote from King James VI, the king who commissioned the translation of the Bible into the English language in 1604 (completed in 1611):

"Holiness [is] the first and most requisite quality of a Christian (as proceeding from true fear and knowledge of God)."

Probably won’t hear this from too many American pulpits today.

 

Odds and Ends

Odds:
A quote from the interim pastor at our church. He couldn't remember where he heard it from. Very true nonetheless.
"When we inoculate the world with a weak gospel, they become immune to the true gospel."
Then, when asked what he attributed the lack of dedication and sincerity in the church to, his response was:"The lack of sin being preached. People don't realize how lost they are. They think that they're good people. Why would good people have a need for a savior?" Great thoughts. It kind of surprised me to hear him say this, though. I kind of thought he was a bit too soft on sin from the pulpit.
Ends:
I had a discussion with one of the leaders in our church a couple weeks ago. He mentioned that one of the congregates asked him about the potential new ministers wife working outside of the home. The leader mentioned his opinion on Titus chapter 2. He feels that it's greatly misused. He feels that we need to focus more on the "keepers" part and not so much on the "home". Here's the passage in question:
Titus 2:
2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
How can we separate the "keepers" from the "home"? Strong's Greek dictionary says that "keepers at home" is: oy-koo-ros'
From G3624 and οὖρος ouros (a guard; be “ware”); a stayer at home, that is, domestically inclined (a “good housekeeper”): - keeper at home.
A guard...I would think you should be AT home to guard your home. A stayer at home...pretty self explanatory. Domestically inclined? Domestic comes from the Latin domesticus <>domus (house, home). I'm not buying into it. One other thing to note is that this leaders wife also works outside of the home. Maybe he's a little defensive. If a husband and wife agree that the woman works outside of the home, than the woman should work outside of the home. I don't think it's best for the family, but that's just my opinion. But don't distort the scripture to make it agree with your lifestyle.

The Great Falling Away?

2 Thessalonians

2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Paul wrote the epistle of 2 Thessalonians in response to questions developed from his first letter to them. They obviously had concerns regarding Christ's second coming.

I believe that this should be understood prophetically. I believe that someone (anti-christ) will rise up and position himself in a literal place of worship. How many have set themselves up "as God" in the temple of their own hearts? Watch this YouTube video of Oprah's latest book club. I understand that some may say this is a hit-piece against her, but allow her own words to incriminate her.

Oprah

Notice at approximately 1:00 minute into the video, Oprah states that there are "many paths to what you call god; that her path might be something else. And when she gets there, she might call it the light." She goes on to say that "loving, kindness, generosity brings her...if it brings her to the same point it brings you, it doesn't matter if she called it "god" along the way or not."

She also states that "There couldn't possibly be just one way..." An audience member asks "What about Jesus?" Oprah blasts back "What about Jesus?!" From the audience member "There is one way and only one way and that's through Jesus." Then Oprah exhorts again " There couldn't possibly be just one way!" And to sum it all up...from the audience member "Because YOU say there isn't one way".

At about 3:00 minutes into the video, she tries to reconcile her hybrid of christianity to spiritualism. She flounders. When she was in her late 20's, she got hung up about God being a jealous God. This sent her on her journey to enlightenment. It's also stated that "God is a feeling experience and not a believing experience". Very interesting. How many followers does she have? How many people take what Oprah says without a doubt or consideration?

Maybe Oprah should stick to giving away cars and helping girls in Africa get an education rather than being a spiritual guide. Just a suggestion.

Here's another video of a prominent individual in our culture. George W. Bush claims that the muslim Allah and the Christian God are the same thing. And that muslims will join those of us in heaven that are saved by God.He will not say, however, that Osama bin Laden's Allah is our God. A couple of quotes from GWB:

"Well, first of all, I believe in an almighty God, and I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God. That's what I believe. I believe that Islam is a great religion that preaches peace." (Online Source)

"I have spoken clearly about my belief that -- I pray to the same God as a Muslim prays; that the freedom agenda is really aimed at liberating people, and that the hope is, is that there will be an active, real Palestinian state, so people can realize their dreams." (Online Source)

"And the best way to achieve better understanding in the world is for folks just to get together, and get to understand that we share the same God, and we share the same aspirations for children and for our futures." (Online Source)

So do all roads lead to God-Light-Allah, or just the ones that our leaders (Oprah and GWB) pick. Just curious.

Matthew 24:24 - For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Whiter than Snow on Easter Sunday

What made Jesus different than the Old Testament prophets?

John chapter 2 tells of Jesus turning plain water into wine.
II Kings chapter 4 tells of Elisha turning a poisonous pot of stew into an edible pot of stew.

Matthew chapter 14 tells of Jesus supernaturally feeding 5000 people.
I Kings chapter 17 tells of Elijah supernaturally providing food for a widow and her son for "many days".

Matthew chapter 9 tells of Jesus raising Jairus' dead daughter to life.
I Kings chapter 17 also tells of Elijah raising the widow's son from the dead.

Matthew chapter 9 also tells of Jesus healing two blind men and a mute.
II Kings chapter 5 tells of Elisha healing Naaman of leprosy.

We woke up this Easter morning to three fresh inches of powdery snow. This area of the country has been trying to grunt the birth of spring for a couple weeks now. Our 30" of snow on the ground has been burned back to about 20", and the snow that was left was hard, crusty and dirty brown. What an object lesson to awaken on Easter morning to a fresh white covering of snow; appearing to once again purify all that is around it. King David said in Psalm 51:7 "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow".

So, what made Jesus different than the Old Testament prophets?

Matthew 9:2, Jesus told the man with palsy "Son, be of good cheer: thy sins be forgiven thee". Only the God of heaven would dare make a statement so bold. And only God could make good on this word spoken to the man with palsy. This surely was the God of heaven incarnate. Only He can forgive us our sins. Only He can wash us and make us whiter than snow!
I trust that your Easter was a blessed one, and that your thoughts of His sacrifice will continue throughout the year. God bless!

A Different Crucifixion - Revisited

I wrote this post in March of '05. Since posting's been kind of slow lately, I thought I'd re-post it. If I took the time to re-write this, I maybe would have changed a few things, but here it is in it's original glory. Ironically, I've been reading through Romans lately. Just yesterday I covered chapter 6. Keep in mind that I wrote this after Easter weekend, originally. And please read through the passage to make the connection. God bless!

With this last weekend being Easter weekend, I did quite a bit of thinking about the crucifixion and the resurrection, obviously. My thoughts were on Jesus Christ and what He did for us by saving us from our sins. Not only saving us from the penalty of our sins, but for saving us from having to sin. I know we never have to sin, but we do. My mind was on the crucifixion of another person; myself.

Romans 6

¹ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? ² God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? ³ Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? ⁴ Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: ⁶ Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. ⁷ For he that is dead is freed from sin. ⁸ Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: ⁹ Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. ¹⁰ For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. ¹¹ Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. ¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. ¹³ Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. ¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

I was never taught this growing up. I was taught that I will fight against sin and struggle with sin my whole life. I was taught that I will sin and, for the most part, there was nothing that I could do about it. The main scripture that I was taught was 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” A free pass to sin, right? And I did. I committed sins with every intention of asking forgiveness for it later. I felt this odd, but it went along with the teaching I'd heard. Had I ever been shown this passage in Romans (v.1), I would have known better (serves me right for not studying on my own).

I don't claim to be a perfect human. I don't claim to be sinless. With the death of Jesus, with me following Him into His death, He frees us from the bondage of sin. If He says we are dead to sin, do you think He expects us to have to conquer sin on our own. When we were resurrected with Him, we were resurrected with His power to combat sin.

When we do sin, we, being a new creature clothed with Jesus, take Jesus into that sin with us. It is not our “old man” sinning. Our old man is crucified and dead (v.6). The old man is not resurrected. If we say that our old man still lives, we say one of two things. We are not saved because we did not crucify the old man; or Jesus Christ's crucifixion was not sufficient and needs to be crucified again. We know this not to be true because of verses 9 and 10.

When we are under law, or our physical self trying to live a sinless life (or our sinful self), we are condemned by the law. We are married to that law. We want to be rid of that law and be under (or marry) grace, but we can't be married to Christ and His grace while we are married to the law. We need to wait until our first marriage partner (law) is dead. When the law is dead (allowing the old man to be crucified) we are then free to be bound to Jesus Christ and His grace. This is Romans 7:1-4.

This isn't difficult to comprehend, but it is contrary to what I have been taught. I find this right in scripture (as you see above). Jesus is not going to give me a commandment not to sin and then just leave me to figure it out on my own. He has taken care of it already. We just need to claim it. Why do we set people up to sin. Why do we expect it. It's because we have given them a free pass to sin by using the 1 John passage. This has been used by those who have tried to justify their own sin by saying we are all going to sin so get used to it; oh, and by the way, you're baptized now so here's your “get-out-of-jail-for-free” card. Yes, we are free to confess our sins to be forgiven, but this is not something we should be abusing, taking for granted or taking advantage of. This should be a rare occasion. Not something that we include in our form prayer every night before bed. This should be a sorrowful occasion. Like King David's confession in Psalm 51. He didn't weep just because he had been caught in a “big” sin. He wept and cried out to the Lord because he had sinned against God. No, this probably was not his first sin, but I'm sure he didn't hold on to the philosophy of 1 John 1:9 as a trump card either. I think we too often do.

These were my thoughts this weekend. We freely sin, hoping God's grace doesn't run out, rather than living holy lives. We want to hold on to the “old man” as a scape-goat. We need to wake up to the realization that Christ has already settled this. I think Satan makes us think it's harder than it really is. He puffs himself up by whispering to us that we have no power over sin. Sin is going to happen so just let it happen. Sin should not just happen. Our sinful self was crucified with Jesus. Let's act that way. Have you been crucified, yet?

Global Warming...again

Maybe I missed something. Or maybe I’m not taking this serious enough. Not only is the Vatican adding “ruining the environment” to the list of mortal sins, but the Southern Baptists are now actively taking a stance to stop global warming. 46 key members of the SBC criticized their denomination for being too timid when it comes to global warming. They say their passivity comes across as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed to the world. They should add that their stance against homosexuality comes across as uncaring; their stance against abortion comes across as reckless; and their stance against female clergy is ill-informed (all according to the world). Since when do we worry about how the world views the Church. The Church doesn’t belong to the world, it belongs to Jesus Christ. We should be worried what HE thinks about it. Once again, maybe He is worried how we’re viewed by the alarmists that are the global warming crowd. Maybe I have it all wrong. And as for the Catholic Church adding “mortal sins” willy-nilly, what more can you say. It’s the Catholic Church. If you follow the link and read the article, it sounds like they’re more concerned about their confessional rates plummeting. Maybe this is a way to draw more people in?

 

Inconsistent?

Bobby Cutts Jr. admitted to killing his girlfriend and their unborn baby girl. He was convicted of aggravated murder of the unborn fetus and was convicted of plain old murder in the death of his girlfriend. The aggravated murder charge could cost him life in prison if not his own life (death penalty).

My question: How can he be guilty of killing an unborn baby and face capital punishment for it, if we are completely permitted (and encouraged in some cases) to abort (kill) an unborn baby with the aid of a doctor or “medication”? I know this isn’t the first instance of someone being charged with murder for the death of a (wanted) fetus, but this story got me thinking about it again.

We bumped this question around at work a bit today. Two of the guys I work with agreed with the complete nonsense and inconsistency of this. The last guy spun the conversation to promote his opinion on the abortion issue (he’s never shy about voicing his opinions). “I believe they should just draw a line and name the date that a child can live outside the womb without a bunch of wires and hoses. Anything before that date is acceptable.” The problem is naming a date that everyone could agree on. Knowing that development isn’t fully complete until the last couple weeks; does this mean that abortion should be legal until the 36^th to 40^th week? And not every child develops at the same rate. I reminded him of our baby that was born in September that didn’t make it. Babies are born frequently at his age and go on to live very normal lives. How is a doctor to know what kind of support a child will need before the birth? Some assumptions can be made, but to allow this to be the deciding factor of life or death of a child is horrendous at best. It’s been proven time and time again where a doctor, after some fancy test, states that a child will be born laden with disease and disability, only to be proven wrong at the delivery.

Any admitted Pro-Choice supporter should be outraged that this man is being charged with aggravated murder for the death of his unborn daughter. This shakes the very foundation that they stand on. If this was indeed a living baby in his girlfriend’s womb, and not a blob of tissue as Pro-Choicers would have you believe, then every aborted fetus, too, is a living life and should be fought for. Every doctor performing abortions and every nurse assisting should stand the same trial as Mr. Cutts.

Where is the consistency?

 

The 21st Century Christian

The average 21st Century Christian doesn't care one way or the other as long as the local church has a lively worship leader, a good anger-management counselor, a singles class where divorcees can pair up again, and everyone can enjoy a "whole lot of love". In this post-doctrine age, the kingdom is something you feel, and Christianity has been re-defined as love, tolerance, and forgiveness, rather than righteousness and judgment. Truth is so little valued that the mere proclamation of it only causes more division.

Michael Pearl from Eight Kingdoms: The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven

America's "Pastors"

1 Corinthians 1:18For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 22For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29That no flesh should glory in his presence. 30But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Aren't we clever? We can make up little skits and prepare nice, helpful messages and bring thousands into the church building. Because we're bringing thousands into the church building, how many of those are true converts? How many are added to THE Church? How many are walking in truth and holiness? We may have several thousand on our roll, but how many are listed in the Lamb's Book of Life? I guess it's not for us to know here and now. I do know that the Lord adds to THE Church...not man. Man just packs the building.

I've seen and heard a lot of America's Pastors lately saying things that are completely un-Biblical. They are redefining “spiritual” or theological words; claiming other ways to salvation apart from Christ alone and even making statements that God is completely happy with who you are and how you live (this last statement made to a crowd of non-believers). I don't argue that men like Rick Warren and Joel Osteen (the two I've seen most) aren't highly energetic, persuasive people. I don't argue that they are not talented people. I wouldn't even argue that they haven't helped thousands of people find better lives for themselves. But to market themselves as preachers of the gospel? This is heresy! Motivational speakers? Certainly! Self-help teachers? Sure. Humanistic teachers? Absolutely. They are teaching humanism in the highest form.

As they continue to water down the gospel, saying that you can simply add a Jesus to your life that's completely satisfied with who you are in your current state of sin and that he wants to reward you with prosperity, they are changing the face and heart of Christianity for the world to see. It's obvious why we are being mourned for by churches in persecuted countries. They are redefining words like sin (now it's like a candy coated cereal treat; not really good for you, but completely acceptable), holiness, sanctification and on and on. Those who only drink from this well will continue to thirst.

As the above passage states, when we bring our wisdom to the table, it is true foolishness. When our marketing geniuses develop a ploy to pack the seats, it's utter nonsense to the One who sacrificed Himself for our sins. How does Jesus feel when we change His message...His story. When we feel we need to massage the gospel so that it's not as offensive? This is the most cherished, loving and merciful message ever! God has given us the recipe to change lives. He has given us the words to speak. We have the power of God. So why do we come up with catchy themes, shocking language and giveaways (seriously, I saw where a church was giving away two 52” flat screen TV's just for showing up for church; another church up here gave away a pick-up truck last year). I'm convinced that it's not our jobs to get people into our buildings by any means necessary. I believe it's our job to preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ and let the Holy Spirit motivate to change lives. Let the Lord add to THE Church. As for these hirlings, they have made and continue to make a mockery of the church and the sacrifice that Jesus made.